Anna Stiina Heiskanen

Finnish Environment Institute, Finland

Anna Stiina Heiskanen has research background and scientific qualifications in hydrobiology, marine ecology, as well as assessment and management of aquatic ecosystems. She serves as an Adjunct Professor of marine biology at the Helsinki University, acting as the Unit Head at the Marine Research Centre of the Finnish Environment Institute, and leading the Unit on Modelling and Innovations. Earlier, she had worked at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, Institute for Environment and Sustainability, where she had led a team carrying out research on development and harmonisation of ecological and biological water quality indicators for inland and coastal waters and providing scientific and technical support for the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) of the European Union (EU). She has carried out research on plankton food web structure and functioning, pelagic-benthic interactions, and eutrophication of the Baltic Sea. Her current research interests are in the assessment of the ecological and environmental status of coastal and marine waters, development, and application of the ecosystem approach on managing and assessing ecosystem services of coastal and marine ecosystems. She is involved in the coordination of the implementation of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive in the Baltic Sea Ecoregion and acts as the Chair of the Work Group of Monitoring and Assessment (MONAS) of the Helsinki Commission for the Protection of the Baltic Sea (HELCOM). She also leads an activity on the marine ecosystem assessment at the European Topic Centre for Inland, Coastal, and Marine Waters of the European Environment Agency. She has coordinated and participated in a number of national and international research projects on marine ecosystem functioning and management, presented several keynotes in international scientific and managerial conferences, and authored and coauthored totally over 90 scientific and other publications.